Former European Footballer of the Year Hristo Stoichkov returned to his beloved Bulgarska Armiya stadium yesterday to inspire his current team Litex Lovech to a 2-0 win over hosts CSKA Sofia in the Bulgarian league.

Stoichkov won three league titles and four national cups as a CSKA player in the 1980s before joining Barcelona’s “Dream Team” that won four Spanish titles in succession and the European Cup in 1992 under Dutch coach Johan Cruyff.

The 47-year-old took over as Litex coach in January last year after spells in charge of the Bulgarian national team, Celta Vigo and South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns.

It was CSKA’s first match under Serbian coach Miodrag Jesic, who replaced Stoycho Mladenov last month to begin his second spell at the 31-times Bulgarian champions.

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